Road maintainer



Oct. 18, 1932.. A. RONNING ROAD MAINTAINER Filed Aug.- ll, 1928 5Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Oct. 18, 1932. I b g 1,883,404

ROAD MAINTAINER Filed Aug. 11, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 O u a &

INVIENTOR l5 Adolph R0 g ATTORN EY A. RONNING ROAD MAINTAINER Oct. 18,1932.

Filed Aug. 11, 1928 :5 Sheets-Sheet 1 3 INVENTOR v Adolh nnin g 4 6ATTORNEY Patented 0a. 1a, 1932 UNITED STATES-PATENT: OFFICE ADOLPHBONNIN'G, O]! MINNEAPOLIS, mason.

Application filed August 11, 1928. Serial No. 298,926.

This invention relates to road, maintaining equipment, and the mainobject is to provide a novel, practical and highly efiicient combinationtractor-implement in which a power driven scarifier is employed,preferably in advance of a grader blade, to positively engage and breakup the road surface, in effect practically pulverizing the hard roadcrust, thus permitting the-surface material to be levelled off with auniform depth and eonsistency, instead of merely breaking up the crustin relatively large pieces, as with ordinary scarifiers, or of fillingin the hollows between hard spots in the road, as is usually the casewith commonly used types of road graders. A further object is to providepower driven means, including a novel clutch construction, forvertically and angularlyadjusting and regulating the road engaging ortreating mechanism, such as the aforesaid scarifier unit. A furtherobject is to pro vide an improved form of scarifier device. A furtherobject is to provide, in combination, with a road working machine,means, operative in advance-of the road tool, for detecting metallicbodies such as man holes and man hole covers which have been coveredover with dirt or snow and which, unless detected,

are apt to cause and frequently do cause considerable damage to themachine when the 7 working tools come in contact with such objects.These and other objects of the invention will be more fully andspecifically explained in the course of the following specification,reference being had to the accom- Y in section, as on the line 6-6 inFig. 2, and,

Fig. 7 is a similar view as on theline 7-7 in Fig. 2.

The rear ends of these cab Referring to the drawings more particu larlyand by reference characters, A designates the traction wheels of atractor having a power plant B, a drivers support C, and a steeringwheel D. The steering truck E of the tractor has been removed from itsnorinal position at the front end of the tractor and is applied to thefront end of asupplemental frame F, in much the same manner as shown inthe Patent No. 1,658,354 granted to Andrean G. Ronning and myself, asassignors to the Ronning Machinery Company, on February 7, 1928, fortraction implement. The type of tractor used is of course immaterial, asit is of common and well known construction, although the tractor hereillus trated is particularly adaptable for use in connection with thepresent machine, and is what is known in the trade as the Farmall type,manufactured by the International Harvester Company. In this tractor thesteering unit or carriage includes two closely spaced wheels 8 that turnin unison and converge downwardly, whereby they are more easily turned,especially at sharp angles: The carriage is turned bya post 9 thatjournals in the frame F and, at its upper end, is provided with a bevelgear segment 10 that meshes with a bevel pinion 11. The pinion 11iscarried on a stub shaft 12 having a spur pinion 13- meshing with apinion 14.- at the .forward end.of a shaft 15, which, at its rear end,carries the hand wheel D. This completes the hand operated steeringmechanism for the truck E. In order that the machine may be turned in asshort a radius as possible, I provide means for braking one of thetractor wheels A so that the machine may turn on such wheel, as a ivot,after the carriage E has been first ang ed to the necessary degree. Thismeans consists primarily, of a crank arm 16, carried by the post 9, andto which is secured the front ends of a pair of laterally disposedcables; 17 running over pulleys 18.

es attach to arms, 19 of brake control rods 20, which operate the brakes21 in any suitable or well known manner. The rods 21 are provided withpedals 22, whereby the operator may use his feet for steering themachine if he so wishes.

. while at an intermediate point the front end of the tractor issupported by a cross bar or bracket device, as at 24.

The man hole detector, which is of particular importance and value in aroad machine, for the reasons above noted, consists of what may besubstantially a standard form of radio receiving set G having an antennawire H that extends to the front of the machine, through a tube I fromwhich it is insulated, and from which it extends and continues in across wire H2 supported by a tiltable frame J. This frame is tiltablyregulated by a hand lever 25, at the rear end of the machine, throughthe medium of a crank arm 26 and a connecting arm 27, whereby the crossbar H2 of the antenna may be raised and lowered with respect to the roadsurface. The radio set has a fixed potential with respect to themachine, so as to not be disturbed by the metal thereof, but as soon asthe exposed antenna wire H2 comes close to an iron man hole it will besubstantially efiected thereby thus disturbing anddisrupting theadjusted potential so as to set up a' distinct screeching or loud noisein the loud speaker. By this means the operator is immediately advisedand warned of the presence of the man hole, whereupon he may proceedmore cautiously, lifting the working tools, as may be found necessary,to avoid destructive contact thereof with the man hole.

The road working mechanism, proper, consists of a grader blade 28, and arevolving scarifier, designated generally by the numeral 29, adjustablyconnected with a floating frame 30, secured at its front end to theframe F as at 32, and being provided, at its rear end, with the usualtool supporting circle 33. The circle 33 is provided with gear teeth 34(see Fig. 2), whereby it may be adjusted, from the rear of the machine,through aworm 35, shaft 36, and hand wheel 37, to thereby adjust theangle of the working unit with respect to the longitudinal axis of themachine. The rear end of the shaft 36 is slidably supported in a bracketarm 38, whereby the shaft 36 may move longitudinally when the frame 30is adjusted transversely or vertically, as will now be described.

The rear end of the frame 30, and the implement which it supports, areadjusted,

transversely, by a hand wheel 39 on a shaft 40 (see Fig. 2). This shafthas a bevel pimon connection 41 with a screw 42, journaled in the mainframe F, and upon the screw 42 is a nut or traveller 43 connected by alink 44 to the floating frame 30. Thus by manipulating the hand wheel 39the operator is able to shift both working tools transversely withrespect of the machine.

The implement frame 30 is primarily'supported at its rear, b a pair oflaterally disposed depending lin s 45 and 46, universally connected attheir lower ends to the frame 30, as at 47, and universally connected attheir upper ends, as at 48, to a pair of cranks 49, respectively securedupon the forward ends of a pair of suitably ournaled, laterally disposeddiafts 50 and 51. Thus, when these shafts are rotated, in the directionsdesired, it will be seen that the road working device ormeclianism maybe raised, lowered, and angularly adjusted as may be found necessary ordesirable.

As the road working mechanism 28 and 29, and the frame 30, are ofconsiderable weight,

and therefore impractical if not impossible.

of quick adjustment by manually operated devices, I have provided meansof a novel nature, and shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4, fortransmitting power from the tractor engine B to the shafts 50 and 51,including a single hand lever for controlling the same, whereby thelifting, lowering and tilting of the mechanism may be eifected by motivepower, yet easily and immediately responsive to the wishes of theoperator who merely presses said lever in various directions to effectvarious adjustments. This ower driv;

en adjusting mechanism may be escribed as follows:

The rear ends of the shafts 50 and 51 are provided with encased wormgears 52 and 53 that mesh, respectively, with worms 54 and 55 carried atthe outer ends of shafts 56 and 57, and by which said worms and gearsare driven.

The opposed ends of the shafts 56 and 57extend into and are journaled ina housing 58, within which housing are arranged four rectang arlydisposed (Fig.4) bevel gears 59,60, 61 an 62, each of which constantlyintermeshes with two of the others, in the manner shown. The gears 59and 60 are respectively carried by the shafts 56 and 57 and are normallyheld in driving engagement therewith by spring held friction clutches 63and 64, contained within the ears which are hollow. It may here be expained that the shafts 56 and 57 are so mounted that they have freedomfor limited sliding movements, and when either of them is pushedoutwardly it will carry with it the friction disk of the clutch, so asto release the same from the gear and thus permit the latter to rotatewithout rotating the shaft. The gears 61 and 62 are carried upon a stubshaft 65, that normally idles within these gears which are normally freeof driving engagement with the shaft. The shaft 65 has a wormgear 66meshing with a worm 67 on a shaft68 having a worm gear 69 meshing with aworm 70. on the usual drive shaft 71 (or an extension thereof) of thetractor engine. When the engine is running the parts 65 to 71,inclusive, are continuously running.

A clutch collar 72 is slidably keyed upon the shaft 65, between thetwobevel gears 61 and 62, and is provided with friction faces, at its ends,for selective driving contact wlth the said gears. This clutch collar isoperated by a shipper lever 73, universally pivoted in the housing 58 sothat it may be moved in any direction, much as with the gear shift leverof a motor vehicle. A spring 7% (Fig. 3) secured to the casing 58 tendsto return and hold the lever in an inactive vertical position. The lowerend of the lever is bifurcated, having two fingers 7 5provided withroller pins 76 travelling in an annular channel of and forlongitudinally shifting the sleeve 72 on the shaft 65. It will be notedthat the fingers 75 are only-slightly spaced from the ends of the shafts56 and 57 which project slightly within the gears 59, 60, and that thereis suflicient play between the members 75 and 72 to permit a slighttransverse movement of the fingers whereby they may act against theshafts 56, 57 and thereby selectively disengage the clutches 63 and 64.

When the shipper lever is pulled straight back it closes the clutchconnection between tht members 72 and 61. This action applies power fromthe engine driven shaft 65 to the gear 61, causing all the gears 5962 torotate, and transmitting motion through the elements 59, 60, 63, 64, 56,57, 52, 53, 51, 52, and raises the crank arms 49, and consequentlylifting both sides of the frame 30.

en the shipper lever 73 is pushed forward itcloses a driving contact ofthe sleeve 72 with the gear 62, thus reversing the direction oftransmitted motion and causing the frame 30 to be lowered.

When the operator desires to for instance raise only one side oftheframe 30, and the implement carried thereby, he pulls the lever 73back but at the same time pushes it to one side, and by so doing hepresses one of the opposite shafts (56 or 57) outwardly thus disengagingit from driven action. When so disenga ed the shafts 50 and 56, or 51and '57, will be locked against rotation, under the influence of theweight of the frame 30 which it supports, by reason of the worm geardrive connections 52, 54 or 53, 55. It will thus be seen that byslightly moving and pressing the lever 7 3 back and forth and from oneside to the other, the operator is able; with'a minimum amount ofefiort, to raise, lower, and incline the road working mechanism with aprecise degree of accuracy and with a suflicient amount of geared downpower, regardless of how heavy the mechanism may be.

Rigidly secured to and under the circle 33 is a transversely disposedhollow beam or tube 77 within which is rotatably mounted a smaller tube78 that is manually oscillated or adjusted by a hand wheel 7 9 throughthe medium of a shaft 80, universal joint 81, a worm 82, and gearsegment 83 (Fig. 1), the latter being secured on the tube 78, while theworm 82 is journaled in a bracket 84 on the sleeve 77.

Rigidly secured to the outer ends of the tube 78 are a pair of dependingbracket arms 85 and 86, between which is arranged a semicylindrical hood87. This hood is pivotally secured to the lower ends of the arms 85 and86, as at 88, and is held in variously adjusted positions by pins 89selectively inserted in holes 90 in the ends of the hood.

J ournaled in the ends of the hood 87, and in the arms 85, 86 is a shaft91, the majorportion of which is squared, in cross section, to receive aplurality of scarifier teeth 92. These teeth are all identical inconstruction, being provided with diagonally opposed cutting corners(Fig. 5) and centrally arranged squared holes 98 to receive the shaft.The teeth are preferably arranged each one transverse with respect tothe adjacent one, as indicated in Figs. 1, 6 and 7. Near its ends theshaft is threaded to receive nuts 94 for securing the teeth in place. Atits left end (Fig. 6) the shaft is merely inserted endwise in thebearing member 88, while its right end (Fig. 7 is preferably squared tobe received in an end socket of a shaft extension or short stub shaft910 that projects into a housing 95. Within this housing the stub shafthas a bevel pinion 96 that meshes with a bevel pmion 97 at the front andlower end of a shaft 98, having a universal joint 99. This shaft istelescopically sectioned, as at- 100, to permit of the previously notedadjustments of the road tools, and is connected by a universal joint 101and bevel pinions102 to the usual power pulley shaft of the tractor,with a result that power will be transmitted from the engine of thetractor to the scarifier shaft 91. i

A pair of beams or arms 103 pivotally encircle the tube 78, near itsends, and extend rearwardly to support the grader blade 28. The blade ispivotally connected to the arms, as at 104, and is adjustably securedwith respect thereto by segments 105 held by pins to the arms. The armsand blade are adjusted withrespect to the sleeve 78 by hand wheels 106that turn worms 107 meshing with toothed segments 108, the worms 107being carried by the arms 103 and the segments 108 being secured to thesleeve 78.

The operation of the machine is no doubt obvious from the foregoingdescription, but will be briefly stated as follows: As the machine movesforward under the power of the tractor the operator has the usualtractor adjustments under control and steer the machine with the handwheel D. The frame J is in a lowered position and when a manhole isdetected by it, giving the operator warning of its presence, he eitherstops the machine or raises the tools'so that they will travel over theobstruction. By manipulating the hand wheels 37 7 9 and 39, and the handlever 73 he can angle the scarifier in any direction, raise and lowerit, and move it forward and backward, as various road conditions mayrequire. By adjusting the bracket arms 105 he may regulate the angle ofthe scraper or grader blade 28, and by turning the wheels 106 he maychange the spaced relation between the blade and scarifier at either orboth ends, the pivots 104 having sufficient play to permitthe blade, ifnecessary, to assume a slight angle with respect to the shaft 91. As

the scarifier rotates at a relatively high speed in one operation, bythe commonly used types of graders now employed. It-is of courserealized that scarifiers have heretofore been used in advance of graderblades, in one machine, but I am not aware of any machine, having thiscombination, in which a power driven scarifier is employed to break thesurface up into sufliciently small particles to enable the followinggrader blade to function properly.

It may here be' noted that when any of the scarifier teeth become dullor broken it is a simple matter to remove and replace them, by looseningand removin the arm 86 endwise from the tube 78 (Fig. 7 This permits theshaft 91 to slip out of the socket 91a and bearing 88. By removing oneset of nuts 94 the teeth 92 will all slide off of the shaft, and may besimilarly replaced after repairs or changes have been made.

It will also be seen that as the tractor unit is detachable from theframe F it may be detached and used for other purposes whenever suchoccasions may arise.

come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Having nowtherefore fully shown and described my invention, what I claim to be newand desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a motor driven road working machine the combination comprising arotary scarifier having teeth for tearing up the road surface, a powerconnection for driving the scarifier from the motor, a grader bladedisposed rearwardly of the scarifier, means for mounting the blade andscarifier for adjustment about a. vertical axis, and means for raisingand lowering the blade and scarifier with respect to each other.

2. The combination with a vehicle frame having a motor mounted thereon,a secondary frame adjustably mounted under the vehicle frame, a rotarytoothed scarifier and a grader blade carried by the secondary frame andmounted for angular adjustment with respect thereto, and a powerconnection for driving the scarifier from the motor. a

3. In a motor propelled road machine, an adjustable under frame, arotary scarifier and a grader blade carried transversely under and bythe frame, a power connection for driving the scarifier from the motor,means for adjusting the under frame to vertically and angularly adjustthe scarifier and blade, and means for adjusting the working depth ofthe blade with respect to the scarifier.

4. In a motor propelled road machine having an operators stationthereon, a power driven rotatable scarifier and a grader bladetherebehind both within view of an operator at said station, meanswithin reach of the operator at said station for vertically and'angularly adjusting the Qscarifierand blade simultaneously and meanswithin reach of the operator at said station for raising and loweringthe working depth of the blade with respect to that of the scarifier.

5. In a motor propelled road machine having an operators stationthereon, a power driven rotatable scarifier and a grader bladetherebehind both within view of an operator at said station, meanswithin reach of the operator at said station for vertically andangularly adjusting the scarifier and blade simultaneously and meanswithin reach of the operator at said station for vertically adjustingthe blade independently of the scarifier.

6. In a power road machine, a tubular beam extending transversely underthe main frame of the machine and adjustably secured thereto, and apower driven rotary scarifier and a grader blade secured to and carriedby r the beam.

7. In a road machine having a tool supporting circle adjustable about avertical axis, a tubular beam secured to the circle, and a scarifier anda grader blade adjustably carried by said tubular beam.

8. In a road machine the combination inist tor at said station forscarifier from the motor.

10. In a motor propelled road machine having an operators stationthereon, a power driven rotatable scarifier and a grader bladetherebehind both within view of an operator at said station, meanswithin reach of the operator at said station for vertically andangularly adjusting the scarifier and blade and means within reach ofthe operaraising and lowering the working depth of the blade withrespect to that of the scarifier.

11. In a motor propelled roadmachinehaving an operators station thereon,a power driven rotatable scarifier and a grader blade therebehind bothwithin view of an operator at said station, means within reach of theoperator at said station for vertically and blade and means within reachof the o to'r at said station for vertically adjusting the bladeindependently of the scarifier.

12. In a motor a rotatable power a grader blade by the machine, means atopposite sides of the machine for simultaneously adjusting the unit andblade, and means independent of said last mentioned means for verticallyadjusting the blade with respect to the scarifier unit.

13. In a road machine having a main frame, a transversely disposed poweroperated rotatable scarifier unit carried by the frame, a grader bladesupported by the frame rearwardly of the scarifier unit, means forsimultaneously adjusting the unit and blade angularly and vertically,and means for adjusting the blade or unit eachinde propelled roadmachine,

. pendently of the other.

14. In a motor driven road working machine the combination comprising arotaryscarifier having teeth for tearing up the road surface, a powerconnection for driving the scarifier from the motor, a grader blade dis-'7 posed rearwardly of the scarifier, and means for mounting the bladeand scarifier for adjustment about a vertical axis.

15. In a road machine the combination comprising a support, a pair oflaterally disposed brackets depending from the sup a rotary scarifierets-and having a port, disposed between the brackshaft journaledat oneend over the scariangularly adjusting the scarifier andv peraactuatedscarifier unit and carried transversely of and

